Do These 3 Things Over The Holiday & You’ll Enjoy It A Lot More! Plus Get My FREE Gift For You!

The holidays are upon us and with all the events and overwhelm this can be a difficult time of year for anyone struggling with their eating. It takes what is supposed to be joyous time and turns it into one filled with dread and anxiety. If you’d like to have less dread and more joy with eating around this time of the year, I have three suggestions for you and then a FREE gift at the end….

Eat Consistently– I like to avoid absolutes, but this one I can stand behind. NEVER save up for a party or event. If you have a big meal or a time when there will be a lot of food that you want to savor- make sure you eat consistently throughout the day. The temptation from diet culture is to restrict your eating so that you can eat whatever you want and as much as you want at your party/event. This is a guaranteed way to overeat and make yourself feel uncomfortably full. Where’s the joy in that? When you eat throughout the day you will actually be able to listen and respond to you body better, savor your food more, leave feeling satisfied and comfortably full, and be more present at the event! It’s really a win-win-win-win-win.

Listen to your body– eat when you’re hungry, stop when you’re full, choose foods that sound pleasing to you. It’s simple, but so hard at the same time. Especially when everyone around you is commenting on their food, their eating, their body. Don’t be sucked into what others are saying about that- it’s all from diet culture and diet culture doesn’t know you or what you need. (And quite frankly it doesn’t even care about you or what you need.) You know yourself best and by staying true to you, taking care of you… you will feel better. That may be honoring hunger, fullness and satisfaction, or it may be following your meal plan and making sure you take the next right step for eating disorder recovery. There’s not one right way for what it means- but it is taking a step that honors you and cares for you. You could ask yourself- how can I best care for myself right now? Or as Rebecca Scritchfield says in Body Kindness- what is the kindest thing I could do for myself right now?

Take time to care for you- aka- self care. This time of year there are so many events, parties, and demands that it can feel difficult to take care of you. It’s okay to say no, it’s okay to have boundaries, and it’s okay to say I can’t do that this year, we won’t be able to make it, no thank you, etc. That is part of self care. Self care can also be necessities like sleeping and eating. It may include more elaborate things like yoga, a massage or a pedicure, or it include just the basics like getting out of bed, taking a shower and putting on clean clothes. Again self care is unique to you, your needs, and what’s going on for you right now. There’s not a right or wrong way, but in a season filled with focusing on other people it’s also really important to focus on you.

If you haven’t noticed a theme in these three tips- it’s that you matter, that you’re worthy of being cared for, that it’s important to take care of YOU (whatever that means to you) and that there’s no one right way. It’s my hope that you’re able to enjoy this holiday or at least make it a little better than last year. Especially when it comes to food, eating, and rejecting diet culture.

To help support you even more- – I have a FREE gift for you! It’s a fantastic guide filled with advice from 30+ non-diet dietitians and therapists to help you enjoy holiday eating guilt free. To get your free guide- click on this link or the image below. A box will appear where you can enter your email address and voila the free guide will be sent directly to your inbox. I hope you enjoy it and would love to hear your thoughts and feedback.

If you’d like more support, also check out my free guide + 5 day mini course on rejecting diet culture!